Fishing Reports

Team Building 101 :: July 6 – 13, 2012

July 13, 2012 By Mission Lodge

We don’t need no stinking rope course to be the greatest team building experience anywhere. Oh no, we are talking fishing for chrome bright King Salmon, fly casting lessons followed up the next day with fly fishing for fresh Sockeye [Red] salmon, late night pool tournaments, competition karaoke and hearty rounds of ‘liars poker’. And to finish off the trust-building portion of our course – up-close and very personal Brown Bear viewing! Yah, now we are talking ‘team-building’ Mission Lodge style. It is an amazing place to spend time with friends and co-workers, building bonds that go far beyond the week at the lodge.

The weather was not the gorgeous blue sky days that we were all hoping for and was actually on the cold side of things, even by Alaska standards. How cold? Let’s just say the gift shop saw a run on capilene long underwear, polar fleece and high end Simms Goretex jackets. Despite the gloomy conditions, we were able to fly out each day with minimal delays and get to all the places we wanted to fish. The Nushagak continued to produce crazy good numbers of bright King Salmon and the Togiak River lived up to its reputation by producing larger than average King Salmon.

Trout fishing remained on the slow side compared to years past due to high, colder water. Between the record snow-packs and steady rain, the river and lake levels were staying right up at there early summer levels. On the ‘Lake Hops’, it was pretty shocking to see the giant fields of snow still on the mountains in this region. Such is Alaska.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports

Burning Money :: June 29 – July 6, 2012

July 6, 2012 By Mission Lodge

Burning Money – No, not burning money on fishing. That is actually an investment in mental health. Here in the land of the midnight sun, Fourth of July fireworks at Mission Lodge takes place around nine o’clock at night with the sun burning bright overhead as if it were high noon. Our fireworks are all noise and offer very little of the visual pizazz you would hope for. So we just call it burning money. But each year we do it anyway as we dearly love this great country and feel it is more than appropriate to take a moment from our vacations to honor its formation and the ongoing fight for freedom from tyranny. You will not see a fishing lodge in North Korea and the few that do exist in the former Soviet Union were built by us Yanks and are seldom enjoyed by the Russian populace — other than the political aristocrats that is. Here’s to our independence.

Fishing this week was again some of the most consistent of the summer as it falls right in the heart of the King, Sockeye and Chum salmon runs. The trout kept showing up more and more each day and the fry pouring out of the lake system had our Arctic Char in full binge-eating mode. It also helps to be a fly out lodge and be able to move around and hit all these different fish species in multiple rivers. When one river is slowing down, the next is just coming into its own. This week, most of them seemed to be ‘on’ and it went from ‘fishing’ to ‘catching’ on most days. The fishing was so good on the Nushagak river system that our state Fish & Game department raised the annual limit back up to four per year. The number of fish coming into the system not only caught up to the mathematical curve the state has put together, but started to surpass it. While the Togiak river was still getting started, it did produce some big fish for anglers willing to give up overall numbers of landed fish compared to the ‘Nush’.

Another added attraction during this first week of July was the return of the Brown Bears to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. It is hard not to be in awe of these giant bruins as they show off their varied fishing techniques such as the ‘ambush’, the ‘snorkeler’, the ‘ninja’, the ‘thief’ and of course the ‘class idiot’. See if you can pick these out from the included photos.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports

Pork Chops & Pitch :: June 22 – 29, 2012

June 29, 2012 By Mission Lodge

Some traditions are just so strong you have nothing to do but just embrace them. In this case the tradition is King Salmon fishing, pork chops for shore lunch and playing the card game known at ‘pitch’. It seems that another tradition has also cropped up this week – bad weather. While it did not slow down our fishing program, it was just plain cold and rainy for at least the third year in a row for this group.

We all cursed the cold weather and the fish seemed to not like it either. The King Salmon run was moving along just fine, but a little slower and in less numbers than the department of fish & game was looking for. According to their formula, the numbers were down for that exact time of year so the department clamped down the limits to only two fish for the entire season [as it turned out, the fish were just a bit off schedule]. It is a bummer when the fish do not follow the exact timetables that we set for them. Such is nature.

Even with the supposed ‘lower than expected returns’ the King fishing was pretty solid most days and absolutely great on the others. There were some slower days for sure, but only compared to the kind of numbers we have come to expect out of the Nushagak River system, which are nothing short of awesome. By any other King Salmon fishing standards, it was still great fishing on even our slowest days.

This week also saw the Rainbow trout fishing pick up including a monster that measured 31 inches caught and released by Steve George. The Arctic Grayling were very active for us, hitting both nymphs and dry flies. These ‘Sailfish of the North’ are some of the biggest you will find in Alaska and could eat their little cousins in Montana for lunch. Literally. Despite catching lots of them this week, no one knocked Frank Blanchard off the trophy board.

As the pictures below will show, the Arctic Char were absolutely gorging themselves on the salmon smelt dropping out of the lake systems. We are taking them both on spinning gear and flies, making for some really hot catching. The only thing missing was a strong presence of Sockeye Salmon. We did manage a few each time out, but are waiting on the big push.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports Tagged With: Arctic Char, Nushagak King Salmon

Opening Week :: June 15, 2012

June 22, 2012 By Mission Lodge

Opening the lodge each season is a little stressful, somewhat fatiguing and always exciting.

There is stress as one never knows what surprises will await on the various fronts we face; like how the weather will be, is the ice going to come off the lakes on time, will the barge show up with all our supplies and more importantly to all of us – will the fish show up.

The fatiguing part has as much to do with the insane amount of day light we have this time of year and the wicked way it plays on your brain as it does with how much physical work needs to be done to get things ready. ‘How can I be dog-tired with the sun hanging high above the mountain tops?’ Answer: it’s eleven thirty at night and you have been up and going since five am.

With the recent sale of the lodge, many have asked what will things be like at Mission. Well, pretty much business as usual since we have most of the same staff back and a mandate from the new ownership to ‘keep the magic going’. Our founder, Dale DePriest, will be around for a while to give life to the scene, but as most of you know that are close to us, his day to day involvement as been hands off for sometime now. The only noticeable change we have noticed is a new curiosity in town and more friendly waves than usual – like most small towns you have to drive with your hand on top of the steering wheel to be ready to wave.

Our first group of guests included a group of veterans that were part of the Project Healing Waters. It was a great honor to share this part of Alaska with them. They have given so much to our county towards preserving our freedom and liberty. We were truly humbled by the chance to guided them this week. To mark this event, some members of board, who are also longtime residents of this area, came out to dinner one night to help officially launch the new season, celebrate their new venture and honor these war heroes. It was a truly memorable evening and the importance of it was not lost on our guests.

In addition to hosting the Project Healing Waters group, we also brought out four of the top graduates from the Bristol Bay River Academy for some hands on training. These young anglers from the local villages of Koligenak and Naknek got to work alongside our staff to get a feel of what it is like guide here at Mission Lodge. In addition to guiding, we also exposed them to the other side of the job, like spending a night or two at our King camp on the Nushagak River, setting motors on our remote boats and more.

As the photos here show, the fishing was everything we expect of Bristol Bay. While the King Salmon fishing on the Nushagak River started off a bit slow, it built up each day into a full on catching frenzy by mid-week. The kind of numbers of salmon landed per rod can not be published in fear of being called liars. Let’s just say you could measure it in terms of ‘dozens’ of fish per person per day.

Unlike the last five years of glacial-like flows of ice in front of the dock in early June, the ice did come off the lakes on time this season. A few upper lakes were still frosted over, but the main system was clear and full of salmon smolt migrating through the gauntlet of Arctic Char, Grayling and Rainbow trout. Fishing the creek and river mouths proved to be excellent for anglers this first week with strong catches.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports Tagged With: Bristol Bay River Academy, fishing report, King Salmon, Nushagak, Project Healing Waters, Trout Unlimited

August 19 – 26 : Silverado

August 30, 2011 By Mission Lodge

Dolly Varden trout [ Salvelinus malma malma ] are arguable the prettiest of the Alaskan trout species. Named after a famous late eighteen hundreds Can-can dancer of Klondike area, the Dolly is a typically a sea-run fish, spending its winters in the Bering sea and returning to our streams mixed in with the Sockeye and Chum salmon as chrome bright bullets. Within a couple of weeks they start to look like swimming Christmas trees and by the end of August are fully sporting their brilliant spawning colors. Unlike the salmon, that die after spawning, the Dolly Varden can spawn multiple years. Each year brightening back up in the sea for next year’s return.

Now the argument kicks in. Some of us consider the brilliant orange and yellow of our Arctic Char to be even prettier than the green, pink and red of the ‘Dollies’. We happen to have a handful of river systems that seem to produce the most intense color variations of the species. The males almost appear to be on fire with their clown-bright orange lips.

For us anglers, these fish are much easier to see than the Rainbow trout and make for some great sight fishing in the small creeks and rivers throughout our territory. This week brought back mostly return guests and a few friends that were lured up to our lodge like a Dolly Varden taking an egg imitation. And like the fish, these new guests got hooked and will undoubtably land here again. Fishing was best described as ‘solid’ with some days making you work at it a bit and other days the catches were so unbelievable in both numbers and size it seemed slightly surreal.

The Rainbow trout record fell to the hands of Mimi Gates only to be tied by Jim Konkel later in the week. The Silver salmon fishing remained slow on the lower Togiak River, but it appeared the fish were just not holding as the upper stretches in the wilderness zones were packed with them along with the afore mentioned Dollies. The Goodnews was still that, good news. Loads of chrome bright fish awaited those willing to make the long trek out that way. The little streams of the Katmai National Park were now fishing well for Rainbow trout and were also loaded with bears. Again this week, the great bear photos kept coming back with the groups that ventured over that way. The bears of Katmai that are true berry-&-salmon-a-voires during the summer and seem to understand that anglers in goretex are off the menu. Whew.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports Tagged With: Bears, Goodnews River, moraine, Rainbow Trout, Silver Salmon

August 12 – 19 : Opposite Week

August 20, 2011 By Mission Lodge

Last season at this same time we were reeling from the death of former Senator Ted Stevens and started the week off with the dreaded ‘down day’. Winds were howling at a solid 45 to 50 mph with gusts up to 70 mph. Not flying weather, especially in the ‘Alps of Alaska’ we call home. These kind of winds are very uncommon for the summer months and a truly horrific way to start the week. That was last year.

This year, with mostly the exact same group of clients, it was a whole different world. One of last seasons participants who was bringing along a friend, had to cancel at the last minute, so his friend invited along some to fill the gag. During the last minute prepping over the phone, Bill stressed to the newcomer how awful the weather was, forgetting to mention sunscreen. Maybe that was the jinx that we were all looking for? The sun came out, the fish were biting and the lake was as slick as an ice rink after the Zamboni passes. Total exact opposite from last year.

Last year, the lake was so high that the dock never moved. This year we had the ‘hike’ from the mouth of the Wood River up to the lodge each morning and night. Last year the some of the rivers where so high that we did not fish them at all. This year the water levels were near perfect and we had all kinds of fishing options to choose from. Total opposites.

In all, it was a marvelous week. One of the fastest of the season so far. A mere blink. Way too quick.

[Show as slideshow]

Filed Under: Fishing Reports Tagged With: Bears, Goodnews River, moraine

August 5 – 12 : Quality Family Time

August 13, 2011 By Mission Lodge

Pleasant weather and lots of return guests made for a very smooth week of fishing. The first day was a big crumby in the weather department, but it settled down quickly that evening and just hovered around with overcast, broken skies. Great Alaskan fishing weather indeed.

The Davis family was back up to visit us after a four year hiatus, sharing their positive energy and enjoying some quality family time on the water. Tom from Billings not only brought his son Hunter back up this year, but also coaxed his dad to join them in the last frontier, rounding out three generations of anglers. Wilson from Austin, TX, a refuge we saved from a defunct lodge across the bay a couple of years ago, brought along his two sons to see what all the fuss was about. And to round things out was our staff’s hero and inspiration Ms. Syliva, who has been traveling the wilds of Alaska for the last forty years and with us for the last five. With all these returns guests, it was fun to also be joined by Craig & Gary, two newbies from Ohio. They’re only complaint was not being able to fish 24/7 – if we they could, they would! Can you blame them?

Fishing, like the weather, was solid. Sea-run Dolly Varden were now throughout a number of the rivers systems that we fish and the Trophy Board got a workout. The Arctic Char were now starting to show their brilliant colors in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge as we hooped our way along the inlets and outlets. Also enjoying the mild weather were Rainbow trout who were sitting behind the masses of Sockeye salmon now dropping eggs. Matching the hatch takes on a new meaning at this time of year as the guides try to unlock the secrets of what color of egg to present.

[Show as slideshow]